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<FONT SIZE=+2><B>Message Filtering</B></FONT>


<p>Filtering is a way to automatically move certain messages from one
folder to another or to delete messages, according to rules that you
define.  For each filtering rule you define, you will provide a
<i>Pattern</i> to establish the messages you want filtered, and an
<i>Action</i>, to control what to do with those messages.</p>

<p>Click <img src="../../images/cf_add.gif" alt="Add" align=middle> to go to a screen where you can define a set of
new filter rules.

<p>Click <img src="../../images/cf_edit.gif" alt="Edit" align=middle> next to a filter that you would like to change. You
will go to an edit screen.  You will only see this option if you have
already created filters.</p>


<p>Click <img src="../../images/cf_delete.gif" alt="Delete" align=middle> next to a filter rule you would like to remove. 
That filter will disappear.  You will only see this option if 
you have already created filter rules.</p>

<p>When you have more than one filter defined, you will see the  <img src="../../images/cf_shup.gif" xalign=middle> (shuffle up),
and <img src="../../images/cf_shdown.gif" xalign=middle> (shuffle down), options next to each filter.  Use these to
move your filters up or down in the list. The order is important. Your
messages will be checked for filtering against the top filter first and,
if the filter is set up for that message, it will be filtered.  If no
matching information is found, the message will be checked against the
second filter and so on down the list.  Messages that do not match any
filter rules will be delivered to your Inbox.</p>

<p>Performance considerations:</p>
<ul>
  <li>The more filters you have defined the longer it will take to run 
      down the list. Deleting unused filters is a good
      idea.
  <li>Filtering in newsgroups served by an NNTP server will be slow if your 
      patterns include tests other than "From:" or
      "Subject:".
  <li>Filtering a folder served by an IMAP server based on protocol 
      versions prior to 4.
</ul>



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